Bird feeders of the prior art are of many different designs and employ a wide variety of materials. For example, some feeders are designed to be permanently mounted on a windowsill or post, while other models are designed to be removeably hung from a bracket or tree. Similarly, some feeders provide only a simple platform to hold the seed, while other models provide sophisticated hopper and trough designs. Wood, metal, glass and plastic all have been effectively used as materials, with some feeders employing common household articles as the basic components of the feeder while other feeders feature components which are entirely custom made.
One useful type of feeder is the suspended hopper and trough type. These feeders include a hopper for storing the bulk of the food contained in the feeder, and a trough for holding and distributing a smaller amount of food for immediate feeding. The entire apparatus is allowed to hang freely from a support such as a tree branch or limb, and may further include a cover or roof to protect the trough from rain, sleet and snow. The hopper may be of any shape, although block and cylindrical shapes are most common. Similarly, the trough may be variously shaped, and may further include a variety of means to control the distribution of food from the hopper to the trough, and from the trough to the birds. In addition, both the hopper and the trough may be constructed of a variety of materials as noted above. In particular, it has been known to use a common household jar as the hopper, and a surface attached thereto as a trough.
One problem encountered with feeders made from glass jars is how to suspend the jar from a support or tree in an inverted orientation. Because there is typically only one opening or mouth to a jar, the jar must be held in an inverted position during use so that seed flows easily out of the jar. However, the bottom of a jar is typically quite smooth, and because the glass is not readily cut or drilled, suspending means is not easily attached directly thereto. Further, the jar must be suspended so that it is quickly and easily returned to its upright position for refilling. A need therefore exists for a birdfeeder, or a kit for making the same, in which a glass jar can be suspended in an inverted position from a support, yet still be quickly returned to its upright orientation when necessary to refill. The present invention addresses this need.